Saskia

Hey all, sorry it’s been awhile. Work has been crazy…hell…life has been crazy. I am still writing a lot but I noticed that I had not checked in with you guys for a hot minute.

I am still working on the first draft of this current project. Every time I think I got the overall story down, more ideas come flooding into my head. *sigh* I will get there. I should have a good couple day break coming up in the holidays. I will be heading back to Indiana to visit with family and friends. I also need to catch up on studying German.

But that’s really what this writing passion is about: learning to balance between duty and what you love. What you need to do versus what you want to do. Obviously I would love to write more but there’s that pesky job that cuts into at least 8 hours of the day (not to mention the 45 minute commute each way) along with everything else that needs to be done (cooking, cleaning, dog stuff, German stuff, hitting the gym) that at the end you are so frazzled that when you try to sit down and write, you find that you can’t.

What do you guys do to ensure you reach your own personal writing quota of the day?

So my current project takes place in South America…in the beginning. I have a group of characters who speak Spanish. The question here is how do I portray that? Do I write in English and just say it’s in Spanish? Do I write some bits in Spanish and then immediately translate? Or do I go the David Mitchell route from Cloud Atlas and just write certain excerpts in only Spanish and let the readers hope for the best?

I think I’m trying a little bit of everything. Mainly the dialogue is in English; however, I have managed to put in a little phrases here and there (being half-Peruvian, I use what I grew up with). I feel that it makes it a little more real by adding this little dash of flavor. Examples?

I have a character who has a line that goes something like this:

“Oye huevon! Que haces aqui? Why are you not at the church yet?”

I don’t translate it. If you’re familiar enough with Peruvian Spanish, you’ll get the ‘huevon’ bit. If not, it doesn’t effect the story. It is simply a name that one character is calling another in jest. “Que haces aqui?” What are you doing here? I don’t translate that either since but you see what I did there? What are you doing here and Why are you not at the church yet are asking the same questions.

In essence, I added a little dash of culture but what is important is still in English. Don’t get me wrong, I do write some dialogue where it has to be translated. But if you do this, use it sparingly. So far, it is one of the few places in this project where such a practice is used:

“Parca,” the old man whispered. Reaper.

“Si.”

“¿Me puedes ayudar?” Can you help me?

Cesar nodded. “Por supuesto, señor.” Of course, sir.

What other ways of utilizing a foreign language do you use? Granted, not all of us are Tolkien’s here who can develop a complete language for books (although, like Tolkien, I did study linguistics….I just wasn’t a professor). Do any of you try to use your own language when writing?

I do most of my writing with a playlist in the background. I have always had a thing for soundtracks and when I was younger (actually I still do this today) I would listen to a song an imagine scenes played out. In fact there have been a number of songs that have really inspired some scenes. Currently the ones I have been listening to the most are the following:

The Fountain original soundtrack by Clint MansellCivilian by Wye OakLast of the Mohicans original soundtrack by Trevor Jones and Randy EdelmanLa Concha Perla traditional song of La MarineraViento de los Andes a CD of various traditional Andean music
Songs by Loreena McKennitt
Songs by Nuttin’ but StringzWuthering Heights original soundtrack from the Masterpiece Theater version by Ruth Barrett

What about you guys? What songs inspire you? As you can see, my list is sort of all over the place and these are songs that help me in my current project. I have a list for Volocio but since that book isn’t out yet there is no point in telling you that list until then.

I may revisit this post later once the book is out there and then I will give you a more accurate list of what songs help inspire what scenes.

Well, that’s all I have for now. I know it’s been awhile and I promise to write more!

So I have put aside my Volocio trilogy for a bit because I have had a HUGE influx of ideas concerning other projects. When I was originally writing, I was planing to pull a George Lucas. What do I mean? Well, my saga so far will span 6 books and I wanted to start with book 4. Then work my way back to the beginning.

But here’s the rub…

While Volocio is finished, I am having a hard time getting an agent for such a complicated piece of work. It is a very complicated world with a lot of the groundwork yet to be laid out. So now i am just biting the bullet and going all the way back to the beginning.

Where the Volocio came from.

Well…I am not going to tell you everything here, but here is a hint as I went about doing some location research yesterday with a friend: